Whoops! We Forgot About the Customer!

More than 50% of all new products fail to meet their goals because they fail to meet the needs of the target customers and because they are released with unacceptable quality issues. Depending on the industry, between 60 and 90% of all new products fail to meet customer expectations.

Do the math. The world is full of gizmos and gadgets that people don’t want, don’t need, and certainly don’t want to pay for. Buoyed by hopelessly optimistic marketing revenue projections that are met less than 1 time out of 100, they get to market before anyone finds out just how off the mark they are. Clunky user interfaces, products that fail to perform as promised, or annoying bugs in the released product, create doubt as to whether the designer ever used the product, let alone talked with a real customer. All too often the key question is . . . Customer? What customer? (more…)

Getting Stuff Done

Common sense says that when working on a project with results that really matter, one should agree on a plan of how to achieve the goals, consider what might go wrong, and make sure everyone who needs to deliver results is committed to doing what needs to be done to make it happen. However, here’s a bit of news about the real world of project management: Common sense isn’t common practice. It’s not even common knowledge! It’s so obvious that people think “It goes without saying.” Well, my experience says NOTHING goes without saying.  Planning never feels like the right thing to do when there is a mountain of work to be done and you’re already late. Projects routinely suffer from under-planning. (more…)

Scrappy Project Management

There’s a new book out called “Scrappy Project Management.” How do I know? Because I wrote it. Well, someone had to! Wildly optimistic, I’m the kind of person who likes to focus on the bright, sun-shiny side of pretty much everything, even project management. But sometimes it seems that, in the galaxy of projects, there lies a mad, mad world of missed deadlines, resource crunches, ego-clashes, talent mis-management, unreliable team members, hopeless schedules and lunatic stakeholders all clamoring for highly unlikely or darn near impossible results. In other words, chaos reigns supreme. At the root of such problems frequently lie unclear definitions of goals, lack of planning, a poor understanding of the customer, and a slew of other risk-factors. Any of you who have lived in this realm know exactly what I am talking about. (more…)

Point 14 - Deming in Project Management

Total Participation Starting From the Top

This point speaks to the need for (1) commitment from top management and (2) commitment from everyone else in the organization. Quality is everyone’s job, and if any implementation is not total, it will not fulfill its full potential. (more…)

Point 13 - Deming in Project Management

Training Not Related to Job/Task

In order for continuous improvement to become organizational culture, it must also become a personal goal for every employee. Self-improvement should not be limited to immediate application, that would be an example of short-term thinking. Employees are the most important assets of an organization, and therefore require effort to retain and enhance them. (more…)

Point 12 - Deming in Project Management

Enable Pride of Workmanship

Deming claimed that the sense of having helped other people is the most significant motivator and source of job satisfaction. It is one of the biggest enablers for pride of workmanship.

Of the projects you have worked on, think about the ones you are most proud of. What is it that makes you look back and say, “Wow! Look what we did!!!” (more…)

Point 11 - Deming in Project Management

Attribute Results to Processes

This may be the most controversial point, but in my opinion it is aligned with the rest of Deming’s philosophy nicely, and I agree with this point totally. In the US especially, Management By Objectives (MBO) is very much the status quo. I’ll give a short explanation of my opinion from an operational standpoint first before relating this concept to project management. (more…)